Unexpected Love
by Sydney K. Ivashkov
Summary: Katherine has been running for months with no one catching on to her and now she runs into one of the last people she would have expected. When she displays a moment of sincerity, what will happen?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N - I've been shipping Kalijah since the episode Klaus where they first showed human Katerina and Elijah interacting, so now that it's a canon ship in the show, I want to know exactly how it happened and because of that I had to explore the beginning of their relationship. I am setting this shortly after 3.22 and as time progresses, it will catch up to somewhere around 4.18. I'm not sure how fast it will progress or how many chapters it will end up being, so enjoy the journey with me.**

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Katherine had been on the run for months. She had been sticking mostly to big cities, as it was easier to hide among the people. Anyone she actually had to deal with, she could compel to forget her and otherwise she could just make herself very unmemorable. If anyone came asking about her, no one would actually remember her to answer the questions, or they wouldn't be able to say they remembered her. It worked perfectly for her. Klaus would never find her if she had anything to say about it. She wouldn't be tortured again and she could live out the rest of her eternity in peace.

The problem with distancing herself so much was that she didn't have a source to tell her anything about what was going on in Mystic Falls. She could venture to the town once in a while and compel someone to tell her then compel them to forget that she was ever there, but she did so sparingly. She couldn't risk being seen by the people who knew her, those she couldn't compel because they were vampires or on vervain.

It had even been a month or more since she had actually been there to find anything out and there was absolutely nothing helpful. Klaus was still in town, which meant that she wouldn't be returning anytime soon for a longer stay. She wouldn't do anything to risk getting in his path. She was determined to stay away.

She was currently staying in New York City. She'd only go out at night and generally wore all black. It made her nearly invisible to most people in the city. When she did go out, she watched carefully in case anyone else was around that she wanted to avoid. It wasn't likely they would venture up this way, but she had to take every precaution that she could. She had to be sure that she kept herself safe.

That was why it surprised her the first time she saw Elijah Mikaelson in the city. At the moment her eyes fell on him, she had slipped into an alley, not using her vampire speed. She couldn't risk him noticing that someone had run faster than the human eye could see. And Elijah would notice—even if he wasn't there looking for her, he was always watchful of his surroundings and he had lived long enough to recognize a vampire from a distance.

She had watched where he went from there and caught sight of the hotel he was staying in. For the next few days, she watched his hotel from the darkness across the street. She couldn't tell if he was there looking for something—her for example, or if he was just there to be there. Maybe he needed the escape as well.

One night, she sat in a dark corner of the diner across from his hotel watching the hotel when she heard a familiar voice. "Hello, Katerina," the voice said in his rich accent.

She turned her head coolly, though her nerves were on edge. Elijah had found her. Was he going to take her back to Klaus again? "I thought you were daggered," she said with her voice as cool as her appearance. That was the last she could justify saying she had heard, after all. She had heard the whole Mikaelson family had been undaggered, but that would tell him that she had been spying on Mystic Falls, even on the rare occasions. She didn't want to give that away yet.

Elijah sat across from her, uninvited and she kept her cool, untrusting gaze on him. "The whole family was undaggered," he explained to her. "Everyone was returned to us, a whole family once again."

Katherine watched him, bored. She didn't care about the Mikaelson family, she only cared for news of one of them and preferably news that she would find to be good. "Well, it must be nice for you to have your whole family together again," she told him her voice unchanging.

"It was," Elijah answered. "Finn has been killed and so has Klaus. It's just me, Kol and Rebekah now and we're all separated." As far as Elijah knew, Rebekah was staying in Mystic Falls and Kol hadn't returned from Denver. Elijah wasn't entirely sure where he would end up.

Katherine could see the pain on Elijah's face and a part of her wanted to feel sympathetic, but at the same time the news that Klaus was dead was the best news she could receive. Elijah wasn't here to take her to him because he was dead and she was finally free. But was that really the case? Klaus was the one who really wanted to make her pay, but Elijah had been hunting her for years as well. "Well isn't that a shame," she replied in a very Katherine manner. She cared about no one but herself, but still looking at Elijah's face, his pain, she still felt bad.

She had turned off her emotions centuries ago and she fully intended to keep them turned off, she shouldn't care for anyone, least of all Elijah. "I'm sorry for your loss," she said finally, a slight tinge of annoyance in her tone, but it wasn't for him. She was annoyed at herself for not being able to leave well enough alone. She should be fine without offering sympathy. She never felt sympathy or regret or anything. She didn't know why she was feeling it now.

Elijah looked up at her after her words came out. While he had heard the annoyance in her tone, the rest of it had almost sounded… sincere. Was that possible? Katherine Pierce had never been sincere about anything, not since she had been the innocent human, Katerina Petrova. If she was being sincere now, was she playing some game? Or was Katerina still in there somewhere? Elijah decided he had to find out. "Thank you," he replied. "How long have you been staying here?" he asked.

Katherine wasn't sure she wanted to answer that question. Even if Klaus was dead, she still wasn't sure of Elijah's intentions or if he planned to repeat anything to anyone. She didn't need people trying to track her to her next location—which she would be needing to find soon. If Elijah had found her she would have to get out. "A while," she answered with a shrug. "I like it, I might stay." She already knew she wouldn't, but maybe she could keep him and everyone else off her trail if she left now. Tonight maybe.

"I may stay here for a while myself," Elijah answered. "Perhaps we could catch up. It has been quite some time, Katerina." He wasn't sure what he was getting at, exactly, but he really wanted to know if Katerina was still in there, if Katherine had any sense of her humanity in there. If she could be reached.

"That would be nice," Katherine answered. "However, I don't have any way to be reached right now, so you would have to give me a way to reach you." She had a cell phone, but she wasn't going to give him any information that could be tracked. Perhaps she would purchase a disposable cell phone soon.

Elijah picked up a napkin and wrote down a phone number, handing it over to her. Katherine picked up the napkin and looked it over. "I'll be in touch," she said, pulling out her wallet and tossing a few bills on the table before placing his number in it and putting it back in her purse. "Bye, Elijah." She got up without another word. Would she call Elijah or just bolt? She wasn't sure yet, but she thought something might be pulling her to call him.

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**A/N - They are already starting to feel a connection, something is fighting against Katherine's flight instinct but she isn't sure what it was and her brief moment of sincerity has Elijah wondering if Katerina is in there somewhere and if he can save Katherine from herself. The question is, will Katherine call Elijah or will she leave town? Reviews are love, people. Perhaps I will even use some of your ideas ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N - Happy Eater to those who celebrate! I am amazed by how many people followed my story last night, so thank you guys so much for the feedback. As a thank you, I am giving you chapter 2 a little earlier than planned. I can't guarantee that I will be updating this story daily, but I will try an update at least once a week. So we left off with Katherine having the decision to call Elijah or leave, now we find out which she chose.**

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Katherine had walked coolly out of the restaurant and even down the street and around the block, but once she got some distance between herself and the diner—herself and Elijah, she ran with vampire's speed to her hotel room. Even in the city that was full of people, she managed to dodge through people as she ran, trying to lose Elijah should he try to come after her. The truth was, after running for so many years, she didn't know how to not run anymore. Klaus was dead and she was happy about that, but there was still so much she didn't know. What did Elijah want? Was anyone else looking for her? Had he come on behalf of them?

She made it to her hotel and went up to her room. She had compelled herself a room for the entire week, but it looked like she would be checking out early this time. She didn't have a lot to pack, she found that when she was moving from place to place, only the essentials were actually needed. Anything else would be too much, especially in an instance like this. While she had always known that being found was a possibility, she had thought herself too good at it to get caught. Why else would she have run for over 500 years and not be found until she was back in Mystic Falls? And even then, she wasn't exactly the person they were looking for. Klaus wouldn't let his grudge go, however. She knew that. If she had some sort of bargaining chip—Elena was originally going to be that for her, now she had nothing—things would be different.

Now, she started to wonder if Elijah's story was even true. Was he only saying that Klaus was dead to gain her trust so he could deliver him? Honestly, Katherine had never understood his loyalty to his brother. He had daggered all of the Mikaelson siblings and eventually finally daggered Elijah himself. Why was it that Elijah kept going back to him? Perhaps it was because Katherine had no real family that she didn't understand it. She had been on her own for so long that she didn't understand that kind of loyalty to anyone.

After packing her things, she took the phone number out of her wallet and sat on the edge of the bed, looking at it. She recalled the pain in Elijah's expression when he told her that Klaus was dead. Elijah had always been a man of honor. He wasn't like Katherine, he didn't resort to lies and trickery to get what he wanted and she knew that deep down. And that kind of pain couldn't be faked. The internal battle waged again, should she call him or shouldn't she? Why did he even want her to call him? He had said they should 'catch up' but she couldn't figure out what he wanted to catch up about. It wasn't like she had any devious plans that he could warn his family of. She wanted nothing to do with the Mikaelsons anymore, or the Salvatores… or any of them.

She sighed softly as she set the napkin on the bedside table. It wouldn't do anyone here any good and maybe when she got out of town, the napkin would be far enough away she could finally get Elijah and that look out of her mind. She got up, picking up the things she had packed and left the hotel. She had already compelled the staff to forget about her, so once she was gone, no one could come asking for her.

She didn't run out of town, she walked through the streets, further away from the diner. She honestly had no plans for where she was going now. All she knew was that she needed to get out of there somehow. After walking for a while, and thinking, she finally hailed a taxi and told him she needed to get to JFK. She sat in the taxi, looking out the window, wondering what was really next for her. Could she find a place to stay for good? Could she finally make a home for herself? It was honestly too good of a thought to be true, something she had never in the last 500 plus years ever considered a possibility. Maybe her next place would be it. Or maybe she could go back to Bulgaria and buy her family home. If Klaus really was dead, then why not?

She wasn't ready to make that move, of course, so when she got to JFK, she compelled the driver to forget about her and forget about the bill before going into the airport. She waited in line at the counter, she had been doing that a lot lately, every couple of weeks or so she would get on the first flight she could to wherever she ended up. New York had been one of many stops and she was sure that there would be many more before she finally settled down. If ever.

When it was her turn in line, she asked what the next open flight was. She discovered that there was a flight to Los Angeles in a couple of hours. It was longer than she had hoped for, but she compelled a ticket out of the woman and went to find her gate. She took a seat near the window, looking out at the planes on the tarmac. She wondered if she could find a flight sooner with a little more compulsion. She wanted to get out of New York as soon as possible. It wasn't that she was worried about being found at the airport, it was that she still had a lot of battles to wage internally.

After waiting for about an hour, she got up and started to walk around nearby, just to find something to occupy her mind. She found a small souvenir shop, and while she found souvenirs incredibly cheesy, she went in to look around. A small part of her actually wanted to remember New York this time, even though it had hardly been the first time she was here. A part of her honestly wanted to remember Elijah despite leaving his number at the hotel.

She turned to leave and her eyes fell on a display of prepaid cell phones and phone cards to go with them. After looking at a few different ones, she picked up a phone and a card and walked over to the counter with them. She paid for them and went back to her seat at the gate.

She opened the cell phone and activated as they called for passengers to board the plane, then she went over to the counter. "I left something at the hotel I was staying in and need to find out if they can ship it to my home," Katherine told them. "Could you find the number for me?"

After giving them a little more information, she got the number and went back to her seat, giving the hotel a call. She told them she left a napkin in the room with a number and that she really needed that number. Of course they had no memory of anyone staying in that room, but after a little more argument they sent someone up to check. She wrote the number just as they gave the final boarding call and hung up. She slipped the number into her pocket and got on the plane. So much for trying to distance herself from it.

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**A/N - Originally I was going to have her get a prepaid phone and call him from the hotel after she had packed, but as you can see this chapter took a completely different turn than I was expecting. I feel that this is more fitting to Katherine as well, she immediately resorts to flight when something goes wrong and the feelings that she has been experiencing only make her want to run more. However, seeing that she has Elijah's number again, I have a feeling we will be seeing that call eventually. Thank you guys again for the amazing response to this story.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N - Here is another update for you guys. Once again, thank you guys for the responses to my story. I'm glad that you guys are enjoying it.**

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Katherine walked out of the hotel into the warm Los Angeles night. She had been there two days and she still couldn't get Elijah out of her mind. She hated this and she didn't even know why he was invading her thoughts so much. There was a time she could have fallen for him, if things had been different. If his brother hadn't been courting her or if they hadn't betrayed her, intending to kill her in the end. Elijah didn't believe in love back then, however, and now Katherine didn't.

What she really needed was a distraction, something that would get her mind off Elijah entirely. She considered going clubbing to find a guy she could focus her attentions on, but found that she was hungry more than anything. Perhaps she could go to a club later. For now, she was going to find food. She walked through the streets, looking for someone who could sate the hunger. It was too busy out for her to have a chance to enjoy the hunt. She was going to have to find someone easy to catch and that she could compel.

She slipped into an alley and watched the people who passed by. One young woman caught her attention and she put her hand over her mouth before pulling her into the alley and looking into the woman's eyes. "You won't scream," she told her in a calm voice. "I am going to drink your blood and that's okay, it's normal."

The woman's eyes glazed over and she repeated some of the words tonelessly. Katherine bared her fangs and bit the woman on the neck, drinking deeply. While she was doing what was natural to her, she didn't have to think about anything else. Elijah could finally leave her mind, even if it only lasted as long as the drink did. When she had had enough, Katherine pulled back, letting the woman fall to the ground. She knelt by the woman, making her look her into her eyes. "You are going to forget this ever happened," she said before getting up and walking away.

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Katherine found a local club and compelled the bouncer to let her in without showing ID. She had one that gave a birth date that made her 22, but she didn't feel like dealing with anything. Using compulsion was so much easier and when everything else was confusing her, that was one thing that she could rely on. It was always there and it made her feel better to break rules, to do bad things.

Which was exactly what she intended to do now. She was going to find a man and use him for sex and probably blood and then make him forget she ever existed. Once she had done that, she was sure she could get Elijah out of her head. Maybe that was all it was, she hadn't been laid for a while and she needed to do something. Since Elijah had come across her, he had been the convenient one for her mind to latch on to, but she wasn't going to let that happen.

She sat at the bar and ordered a drink, laying her ID on the counter to show that she was old enough. There were too many people around to compel this time. Once she got her drink, she turned on her barstool as she took a sip. She surveyed the crowd, looking for someone attractive and full of himself. She liked bringing those kinds of guys down and if she could do that now, it would really get her mind off a certain someone else.

She spotted her target and slipped off the stool, taking her drink with her. Of course this target was dancing with a girl, but she wasn't concerned with that. She walked over to the couple and looked the woman in the eyes. "You forgot something in the bathroom," she told the girl.

The girl got a confused look on her face before nodding. "That's right," she answered before turning to her date, "I will be right back, I need to go get it."

When they were alone, Katherine turned to the guy, turning her charm on him. "What's a sexy guy like you doing with a girl like her?" she asked him in a purr, placing her hand on his bicep.

She had been right, even with a date, a compliment and a sexy tone and he probably wouldn't even remember the girl that would walk away, and that was without compulsion. "I'm not here with anyone," he answered her simply and she smiled.

"Well then, maybe you should dance with me." She led the man further onto the dance floor, with as many bodies that were in there, he would be impossible for the girl to find. Katherine danced with him suggestively, taking occasional sips of her drink as she did. When her drink emptied, they went to the bar for another one. He sat on the barstool and she sat on his lap, kissing along his neck as they waited for the drink.

When the drink came, she downed the glass before turning to him. "Maybe we should find someplace more… private," she said suggestively.

The man agreed and they left the club just as the girl spotted them, calling his name. He was too interested in Katherine to care, however and they went to a nearby hotel—she was sure to make it one she wasn't staying in—and got a room.

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After sleeping with him and feeding off the man, Katherine laid next to him for a few moments before she compelled him to sleep. She got dressed and left the hotel, leaving him to pay the bill. She didn't care, she had just needed a distraction. He had been a nice distraction at that.

She made her way to her own hotel, and changed clothes before laying down. She caught sight of the paper she had written Elijah's number on when she had been at the airport and she sighed. Now he was in her mind again, the way he had told her his brother was dead and the expression on his face. She sighed softly, putting the paper down and laying down. What was it about Elijah? Why was he haunting her so much? Why couldn't she just forget about him? That was what she wanted, more than anything. She needed to get Elijah Mikaelson off her mind, because as hurt as he had looked when he told her Klaus was dead, she knew he had to be up to something and it was best for her to stay away.

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**A/N - I know, I know, the call hasn't come yet but I assure you that it will. I see Katherine trying every way to get Elijah out of her mind and, well, this has pretty well topped it. If he's still there, the call will be coming soon.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N - I received a review asking me to continue this story. I just wanted to let you guys know before the chapter starts that I do not intend to abandon the story anytime soon. I am in the middle of moving and I share my laptop, so as I mentioned before I may not update consistently though I do intend to keep my goal of updating at least once per week. If it will be longer, I will give you warning in advance or put up an author's note explaining as much. Thank you guys for the continued support and patience. And now for the chapter...**

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Katherine spent the next few days alone, trying to do anything to get Elijah off her mind. She even nearly tore up the phone number, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. In one moment of weakness, she put his number in the disposable phone as well as her real phone, though she never intended to call him from that one. She knew that if she lost his number again, she would never get it again. That was unless he found her again, but she didn't intend for that to happen. If he found her again, it would be on her terms, but in order for that to happen, she would have to call him.

She found herself wondering if Elijah was still in New York. Had he realized yet that she left the city? It was a big city and there was no way he would ever know for sure, but Elijah knew her tendencies. While he might not know her patterns, he knew that she liked to run, though he wouldn't know why she ran this time. He couldn't know that she was actually feeling… differently around him. She had handled the situation at the diner with her usual cool ease.

She still didn't know why Elijah wanted her to call and she knew she wouldn't know unless she actually called him. Los Angeles was a safe distance to call from, right? They could just talk. She didn't have to tell him where she was, in fact the number on her disposable phone was a Virginia number. Even that wouldn't give her away. Elijah would have no way to track her if she called from that phone.

She considered the possibility of calling him now, but hesitated. She wasn't sure what it was that she was scared of. She knew it wasn't that he would find her, though what else would it be? Was she afraid of the sympathy that she had felt when he told her that Klaus died? Maybe that was it. She should have felt nothing but freedom when she received that news, but in addition to that, she actually cared that Elijah was hurting. She hadn't cared about anything in so long. She refused to care about anything. So why now and why him?

She laid back on the bed and closed her eyes, trying to get him out of her mind, but instead he entered her mind in another way. She was mentally transported to when she had first met the Mikaelson brothers. Back then, she had been a human with aspirations of finding true love. She knew now that was a joke, but back then she had been appalled by the idea of Elijah not believing in love. She recalled now that she had found it sad that someone couldn't believe in love, that without love no one would have reason to live.

After living more than five centuries after that, she found that she still wanted to live, even if it was mostly for fear of not existing at all, and she knew that love didn't exist. At least not for her, anyway. Without emotions and without any reason to turn them on, she would never feel love. She shouldn't feel anything. She reopened her eyes with the resolute decision to face her fears and prove that she felt nothing for Elijah. She picked up her disposable phone and dialed his number, waiting through the rings.

"This is Elijah," Katherine heard the rich accent on the other line. She paused for a moment knowing this was her last chance to back out, and even with him having that number, she could. She could leave the phone at that hotel and go to another one, or leave Los Angeles entirely. If she didn't speak now, she had options.

She pressed forward, however. "Hello, Elijah," she replied in her emotionless tone that she had so well perfected.

She heard a breath, though she didn't know if it was a sigh of relief or of annoyance. It was no secret that Elijah and Katherine were hardly friendly. "Katerina," Elijah replied simply. "I thought you wouldn't call."

Katherine shrugged though he couldn't see it. It was easier to sound like she didn't care if she acted like it was nothing, if she acted like she hadn't spent more than a week thinking about him despite leaving New York. "You said you wanted to catch up," she answered him.

"Yes," Elijah answered her. "I would like to know more about what you've been up to."

Somehow, Katherine doubted that Elijah would have all that much care for the people she had bitten or the ones she had slept with, and that was really all that had been going on in her life since she left Mystic Falls. There wasn't much else to do. "I've been laying low," Katherine responded. "There really isn't much to tell."

"Aren't you sick of running?" Elijah asked her.

Katherine had considered that and she already knew the answer. She was horribly sick of running, but it was also all she knew. Klaus might be dead, but that didn't mean that she knew what to do now. "It's all I know," she told him. "I've been running so long that I don't know anything else."

Elijah remained silent on the other line for a few moments. "I see," he answered her. He supposed that it made sense, but he thought that she wanted to strike a deal with his brother and now it seemed that she had moved beyond that, or perhaps she hadn't realized before that it wouldn't be as easy as she thought it would be.

"Where are you, Katerina?" Elijah asked her after another moment of silence.

"I left New York," she informed him, as though it would be news to him and maybe it would be.

"I assumed as much," he replied and that didn't surprise her all that much. Perhaps not as much as it should have. "I also do not believe that you are in Virginia," he added.

"No," Katherine replied, not disclosing any more information.

"So where are you?" Elijah repeated the same question.

Katherine still didn't feel like it would be a good idea to tell him where she was. "I'm somewhere," she told him, refusing to give any more information. She didn't even want to tell him what part of the country she was in.

"I would like to see you," Elijah replied. "I can't do that if I don't know where to go."

"Maybe I'll tell you another day," Katherine replied. "In the meantime, you can reach me at this number. It can't be traced to me," she added so that he wouldn't waste his time trying.

"I will call you, then," Elijah told her.

Katherine nodded, not sure if that would be a good thing or bad. She hung up the call without saying another word, then she went out in serious need of fresh air and maybe some blood.

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**A/N - So here is the long awaited call, however she is still being guarded and cautious. She prefers the safety of an untraceable cell phone versus giving up her location. That way, she can try to stay in the same place a little longer. Now that they are in contact with one another, do you think it will be harder for her to not tell him where she is?**


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